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Kaur and Archuleta: A Sikh, a Mormon, and a dozen Interfaith University Graduates

"If I had been a Christian, I would be a preacher, she said to me. You are - you have found your way! I replied. Valarie Kaur is easily one of the best speakers I have ever heard, and I am a preacher. With great care, Valarie called and emailed students the week prior to her address so she could answer their questions when she spoke at our Baccalaureate service at Chapman University this year. Sikh social justice attorney and activist, she spoke to the heart of what it means to walk into the “hot winds” of the world - the terrorism and the unemployment and the hate speech - the very difficult world we live in. She urged graduates to go to the places of pain if they want to make a difference. And she told her stories that simultaneously moved one’s heart and motivated listeners to save the world. I want to call every person I have ever wronged and ask forgiveness, said one Chapman staff person after hearing Kaur’s words: forgiveness is not forgetting, forgiveness is freedom from hate."